Jolie & Pitt To Star In Atlas Shrugged

Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie, "a longtime devotee of Rand," have teamed up with Lionsgate on an adaptation of Ayn Rand's novel Atlas Shrugged. More info here. --Kim

Adaptation Updates: Angus & Jane Eyre

Nip/Tuck writer Jennifer Salt will adapt Charles Seibert's Angus, which "examine(s) a year in the life of a young married couple seen through the eyes of their newly adopted young dog."

The BBC will air a new adaptation of Jane Eyre, mining "every ounce of passion, drama, colour, madness and horror available."

--Kim

It Takes A "Villa"

Dark Horizons notes that Alan Rickman and Kristin Scott Thomas are teaming up for an adaption of Piers Paul Read's "The Villa Golitsyn," a psychological drama set in the South of France....here's deets. -- Amy

Revealed! The Guardian's Top 50 Adaptations

"Organised by the Guardian, a panel of experts has drawn up the list, which will be voted on by the public. The chains Waterstones and Borders are also involved and will promote the books in shops."

I can't believe A Room with a View didn't make the cut!

(via Return of the Reluctant)

--Kim

In Memoriam: Muriel Spark

Novelist Muriel Spark died on Friday. I confess I haven't actually read any of her work, which makes me tres lame for writing this brief obit. Still, I can recommend the film adaptation of her novel, "The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie," which is sort of like a darker, racier, female version of "Dead Poets' Society." Maggie Smith is perfection in the title role of this 1969 classic Brit flick, and she won an Oscar for her efforts. Granted, the "girls" in the movie look about 27 -- still, it's much, much better than watching Julia Roberts in that stupid "Mona Lisa Smiles" garbage from a few years back.

Muriel was a woman after my own heart, spending the last years of her life living in a converted church in Tuscany. I've made a note to borrow her novel, The Girls of Slender Means, on my next trip to the library. Based on the title, at least, it sounds like a book I could relate to. Let me know if you'd recommend any other works from Spark. -- Amy

Gorey Vision: The Wicked World of Edward Gorey

The week before Edward Gorey died I happened to see an exhibit of his work at SF's cartoon museum. I've been fascinated with his drawings since I began watching PBS's Mystery! with my mom back in the early 80s. (I also have very fond memories of us practicing yoga together along with PBS when I was a toddler. Well, she practiced while I mostly did headstands.) I don't remember when I realized he wasn't actually British, but perhaps an anglophile like me. Anyway, the Morning News links to this interview with Gorey at PBS.org. Apparently he "devoured" Dracula at the tender age of five and, of course, it scared him to death. Funny how when we're feeling our most immortal we're so easily terrified by our own imagination. An excerpt from the interview:

Which MYSTERY! series seems to fit most neatly into the world of Edward Gorey?

Any of the period ones do to some extent. I suppose the Agatha Christie stuff they've done is vaguely like some of my period drawings. I very much like the Tommy and Tuppence ones, the Partners in Crime. I quite admire Joan Hickson, but she's just a little too dark for Miss Marple. I'm old enough to love Margaret Rutherford's Miss Marple, even though I know perfectly well she wasn't Christie's idea of Miss Marple.

--Kim

More Pride and Twice the Prejudice

Delurked reader Meghan (a girl after our own heart--she has a post on the Cutting Edge 2 movie) of The Busy Nothings Report has some great promo pics from Pride & Prejudice that I hadn't seen before and also a review of the P&P director's cut. --Kim